Nearly 2 months after lineman loses arm, JE booked

Nearly 2 months after a lineman lost one of his arms to burn injuries sustained while repairing a faulty line, police have booked a junior engineer (JE) of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (UHBVNL).
Still under treatment at the PGIMER, 35-year-old Mamtesh of Jaloli village in Chandimandir lost his right arm and two fingers of the left hand that had to be amputated.
Now, his colleague Mandeep Kumar, hailing from Yamunanagar, has lodged a complaint with the police. Mandeep said in August 2023 under the Haryana government’s Kaushal Yojana he was posted as AML (lineman) in the UHBVNL.
In January this year, he was posted at Barwala powerhouse where he was working with Mamtesh and Jasbir and junior engineer Shyamdhar Ram was their in-charge.
He said Mamtesh and Jasbir were working as linemen on contract basis with the UHBVNL.
On March 3, as Jasbir was on leave, at 11 am, Mandeep along with Mamtesh and the JE went to the industrial area to attend a complaint of fault in the power supply line. He said the fuse of a 100 KVA transformer had gone off, so the JE asked Mamtesh to fix the same.
Mamtesh tried but one phase still did not work so he and Mandeep asked the JE to get the power to the line switched off. After talking on the phone, JE told them that he had told the Barwala powerhouse, and the power supply had been snapped. The JE asked Mamtesh to get on the transformer and repair fast as they had many complaints to deal with.
As Mamtesh tried to fix the fuse, he fell down after suffering an electric shock. He had sustained burn injuries in many places and was rushed to the PGIMER where he is still under treatment.
As Mamtesh was still not fit to give statement, the police acting on Mandeep’s complaint registered a case under Sections 337 and 338 of the IPC at police station Chandimandir. JE Shyamdhar was placed under suspension after the incident. However, no arrests have been made.